Pains of the past
by Dragonbow117
Summary: One shot, Valkas first impressions of Hiccup from the interception in mid air to the realization of who he is, and her previous thoughts on her life back at Berk. If family and angst stuff gets you sad, get tissues :P


**A one-shot that I decided to write, Just a little side thing, still doing my main story in case any1 wanted to ask. So yeah :P**

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Pains of the Past

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Valka never regretted her decision to stay with the dragons until now. She knew her son would be safer; she was notorious for trying to find a peaceful solution to the dragon problem which in return caused problems for her as well. People whispered and gossiped about her in dark corners of the Mead Hall, they would stop as soon as she entered a room, or got near enough to try and catch what they were saying. She'd sometimes caught the odd 'Dragon Sympathizer' and 'Traitor' and those were only a few of them. If she hadn't been the Chieftess she would probably have had a trial to be sent off the island. Life was hard for her there, so when Cloud Jumper took her away she barely thought of going back. However when she did, the only thing that she regretted was leaving her son.

Make no mistake, she loved Stoick, but it was hard for her to remember anything but his utter violence towards dragons. Yet she didn't dwell on that for long, he would have sired another wife by then. Or so she thought.

She always imagined her son taking after Stoick, tough, brutish, smart when it came to battle and an aura of born leadership that demoralizes his enemies and rallies his allies. She always assumed he would be Stoick in another form. She of course also assumed he would have a hatred of Dragons.

He wouldn't be allowed to think anything else; it would be around him constantly! All of the death and destruction, and any loss of friends or family would be encouraged to blame on the dragons. She has no idea how she herself came to forgive them because she didn't even know about the queen until after she was taken away. So why didn't she hate them as well? She was the first in 300 years no doubt and so she didn't expect anyone else to change. Because if history has to taught her anything, it's that a different way of thinking is a wrong way of thinking.

All of these presumptions she had assumed and in time believed were shattered the day a mysterious dragon rider's yell caught her attention. When she flew up to investigate she saw a man on the back of an onyx dragon and whose sleek build and graceful flying lead her to believe it was a Night Fury. This man was riding one of the last Night Furies, and that made her curious.

He didn't seem hostile, or an enemy. He did seem frustrated, and when she emerged from the clouds he seemed to think it was his father, caused by the exclamation.

"Come on dad, really?"

He silenced himself when he saw it wasn't his father. This gave her the indication of other dragon riders as well. Cloud Jumper sensed the mysterious riders fear and apprehension, and considering it was a dragon and not a human, Cloud Jumper assumed it would lash out. He decided to make an intimidating display as he burst forth from the clouds and halted the Night Fury's approach.

The Night fury seemed to just roar in a defensive manner. Valka silently ordered the dragon armada she was hiding below her to bring him to the nest. The dragons of the nest seemed to look at her with respect, she still had authority. The boy was snatched from his dragon before he could react. She only noticed too late that the dragon had a prosthetic the rider was keeping open. She signaled for the dragon to also be brought and left the dragons to decide how to do that. The boy was yelling in Norse. She still knew how to speak; she just couldn't hear him well over the wind, what with her mask, and his rushed and panicked tone. She did hear his voice mention his dragon though. He clearly wanted it to be alright, he must have some kind of camaraderie with that dragon. He was looking more and more like a possible ally… she did wonder though, where did he come from? Who were his parents? Why was he angry? Were there more dragon riders or even Night Furies? She would ask these questions in due time but for now she focused on seeing him react to a group of dragons. Would he explode in fury? Would he know how to placate one? Would she have to step in?

The dragon carrying the man dropped him in the nest; he landed expertly even though he was missing a leg, and had a prosthetic. She noticed he was quite young, in his early twenties maybe. He was quite young to have a prosthetic, young enough to be her son even, but that was a ridiculous notion! Her son was stronger, a dragon hater as she remembered, right? She noticed a Snaffle Fang becoming wary and growled. The man was still talking to her about his dragon, seemingly to be the most important thing to him. He wasn't intimidated by the large amount of dragons and he responded to the Snaffle Fang in calm manner. He got out the hilt of something, but it didn't have a blade…not until he clicked it open and a blade shot out! Panic rose within her as this weapon seemed expertly made; maybe it was a new tool for subjugating dragons like how Drago seems to. However surprising her was the fire that followed it. He didn't attack, no; he waved it around getting its attention, and lulling the dragon to trust him. She knew showing a dragon you could wield fire proves you're one of them. This man knew how to befriend dragons, and she was impressed thinking only she knew how! Was he on the run from his tribe because of this? He couldn't be from outside the archipelago because he spoke Norse.

When dragons came up behind him he turned off his sword and changed something, like reloading a crossbow but it didn't seem to be a projectile. He expertly spun in a circle spewing… what looked like Zippleback Gas. Then he lit it, and suddenly all of the dragons near him began to trust him. He raised his hand in a similar fashion showing respect. This man was a friend to dragons, and therefore a friend to her. She stopped her observing of the young boy and moved around him cautiously. The man spoke, "Who are you?"

Reasonable Question, he didn't seem angry at her or anything, only cautious.

Valka didn't speak.

"The Dragon Thief?"

Maybe he was working with Drago, a mercenary so to speak. She remained silent.

"Drago…Bludvist?"

She tried not to recoil at the name; if he was going to meet with Drago pretending to be him might come in handy to know their plans.

"Do you even understand what I'm saying?"

To this she waved her staff; she would test him to see if he had actually bonded with his own dragon, or whether or not he was using him. A dragon came in with the body of the Night Fury, alive. As soon as it was down it ran to the boy, who in turn ran to it.

"Toothless! It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Glad to see you too bud, you really had me worried there…"

The dragon responded by licking him affectionately and letting him hold his face which is proof that the dragon is not subdued but in fact befriended, it trusted him. She signaled for the dragons to give her some light so they opened their mouths and lit fire so it would illuminate the cave. She needed a closer look at this man, whoever he was. It fascinated her to think there might be more out there. The rest of the dragons in the cave followed suit except the Night Fury. The man had also noticed this and stood up from his dragon, the dragon which was curling its tail around his friend protectively, the same dragon that clearly saw this man in high regard, or he would not be willing to fight against his own kind to help him. She couldn't risk a fight, so she decided to do a little hypnosis trick on the dragon to pacify him for a while.

She dropped both her staff and wooden shield and crept up closer to the dragon that started a warning growl. The man seemed to put his hand on the dragons back as if trying to calm it. Maybe he was morally strong like her? She flicked her hand into the air and waved her fingers slightly which triggered a chain reaction in the dragon so when she dropped her hand to the ground the dragon followed.

She patted the dragon's underside as she turned her attention to the man who didn't seem to know that one. He wasn't as skilled as her, it seems in fact he hadn't been living in the wild due to the leather he was wearing and how it was fashioned. Nevertheless he clearly was a skilled blacksmith and he was also little intimidated by the fact that his dragon could no longer protect him. He laid a lot of trust in his dragon too it seems.

She moved her hand out to him to touch his face, it seemed odd but she hadn't felt any other human in twenty years besides her own. It was almost obligatory, he seemed slightly uncomfortable understandably. She studied him at the same time, he had two braids at the back of his hair and his suit seemed designed in an odd way…he knew about dragons but something didn't add up. He seemed so… fresh, he couldn't have been running away from a village, if anything he just left it. But he wouldn't have built a relationship like this with a dragon and invent everything he had in time could he?

Then she noticed it. A scar just below his mouth on his jaw and chin. She remembered that scar, she would remember it anywhere. This wasn't some mysterious rider that came out of the blue; no…it was her son! Her Hiccup. Her son almost recoiled at her gasp and then his fear turned into curiosity as she herself backed down. She talked for the first time since she met him.

"Hiccup?" she whispered in awe.

His confusion deepened at hearing his name, this was him, her son.

Everything she had believed for the past twenty years had been an illusion that she'd created. Everything was wrong! Everything she'd believed about her village, about Stoick…had been wrong. So as she held her beautiful Grandson in her arms she couldn't help the feeling of regret she had. He had lived his life so far without her support, fending for himself and taking after her. She had been wrong after all, she had missed out on all…this. However she would spend the rest of her life making it up to him.

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**Always thought that's something that could of happened.**


End file.
